Amy Johnson taught 5th grade at Northlake Elementary School until this fall when she moved to Cascade. At all levels, American History is the guiding theme for her teaching. She uses project-based learning about major events, such as the Boston Massacre and the Battle of Gettysburg, to instruct and inspire. Students assemble artifacts, write a detailed report with a bibliography, and do a presentation with visuals. This rigor attempts to replicate a college-level experience for her elementary and middle school students.

Excitement builds as Johnson leads students on a journey through time. Students proclaim: “Mrs. J., you make the past come back to life again!” as they answer important historical questions and discover new topics for investigating. Administrators describe her students as “engaged, inspired, and imaginative in their pursuit to understand the past,” and Johnson herself as “a dynamic teacher of American History without equal.”